For the second year in a row, the radical right in America expanded explosively in 2010, driven by resentment over the changing racial demographics of the country, frustration over the government’s handling of the economy, and the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and other demonizing propaganda aimed at various minorities. For many on the radical right, anger is focusing on President Obama, who is seen as embodying everything that’s wrong with the country.

As proof of supposed right-wing violence, SPLC lists the following:

“the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, an attack that left six dead and may have had a political dimension.”

The allegation that Jared Loughner was right wing has been sothoroughlydebunked that SPLC may be the last group actually making such a claim. It truly is amazing that SPLC still peddles this garbage.

The reported rise in hate groups come at a time when albeit incomplete FBI hate crime data for 2009 showed a 15% decrease in reported hate crime in the nation. The 6,598 hate crimes in 2009 were the lowest number of hate crimes reported by the FBI since 1994, although participation in the voluntary program varies widely from state to state.

The SPLC report is just another fundraising tool, but it is not harmless.

The damage SPLC does with such posturing is very real, as buried in that list of 1000+ supposed active hate groups probably are some groups we need to keep an eye on.

We just don’t know which ones, because SPLC has so politicized the process that it is impossible to separate the potentially violent from the politically incorrect.

Update 2-24-2011:Bruce McQuain has a good review of the latest SPLC report, including this quote showing how SPLC tries to tie Loughner to right-wing views:

“That’s in addition to the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, an attack that left six dead that same month. The assailant appeared to be severely mentally ill, but he also seemed to have absorbed certain ideas from the radical right, including the notion that the federal government is evil.”

The intellectual ineptness and blatant dishonesty of the no-longer relevant SPLC must really gnaw at three dissimilar but significant groups of individuals; ie: southerners, paupers and lawyers. All three categories have had their identities userped and trashed by snide ne'er-do-wells who today spend someone else's money but no longer contribute to the maintenance of a civil society. Shame, shame.

With your previous post in mind, which noted that a Federal judge has ruled that our thoughts can be regulated under the Commerce clause, I wonder how long until the Liberal Inquisition at the SPLC starts issuing fatwas against dissidents?

I think you are missing the point a bit – to some people anyone using or owning a firearm is by definition "right-wing". It's part of the fundamental definition of "gun owner" that they are right wing, and part of the definition of "right wing" that they own and/or use guns. Therefore Jared Loughner is right wing. QED

"The DHS report followed similar reports issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center and the Virginia Fusion Center. The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police

TO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SUPPORTERS DISPLAYING BUMPER STICKERS AND OTHER PARAPHERNALIA

associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties."

And here we thought lefty bumper stickers were merely amusing to astoundingly inane instances of gummy-backed free expression used to paper over dents in car rears and frontal lobes, when they're actually serving to nullify the threat of terrorist winger flag and NRA decals.

Several months ago, this SPLC spokesman, Potok, was interviewed on WGN by Mike McConnell. When McConnell asked him to explain how the Black Panthers and other "leftist" groups could be classified as "right-wing" Potok simply hung up on him. SPLC pontificating on "hate" has as much credence as John Edwards espousing the merits of fidelity.

1. There is no legal definition for “hate group,” which is why even the FBI does not track “hate groups.”

2. The SPLC uses the deliberately meaningless term “hate groups” in its fund-raising propaganda precisely because it allows them to denigrate their perceived opponents without accusing them of any actual crimes.

3. The “Hate Map” is a fund-raising tool, nothing more. It provides no information whatsoever on the alleged groups, in fact, the SPLC didn’t even bother to make up locations for 262 of the groups; that’s 26% of the total.

4. Since the SPLC is the sole arbiter of the meaningless “hate group” label, AND because SPLC fund-raising is directly tied to creating the illusion of an ever-increasing threat, it is in their direct financial interest to raise the numbers each year.

Last year the SPLC took in $31 million donor-dollars in donations and earned $26 million in interest on its bloated “Endowment Fund.” That’s $57 million dollars for last year alone. Since 2003, the SPLC has taken in more than a third of a BILLION dollars in tax-free cash, and yet the number of “hate groups” always goes up.

In fact, according to the SPLC's hometown newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, despite being located LITERALLY in the back yard of Dr. Martin Luther King's home church, the SPLC has NEVER hired a person of color to a highly paid position of power in its entire 40 year history.